Okinawan boxer to flight in World Championship match

Okinawan 21-year-old Daigo Higa, the current Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) flyweight class champion and the No.1 in his weight class on the World Boxing Council list, held Monday a press conference in a hotel in Tokyo to announce his upcoming world title match at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo.

Higa, who has won all of his 12 matches by KO since June 2014, when he made his debut as a professional boxer, said at the press conference, “I want to win the match in the first round with my style. I want a KO this time as well.”

Higa has aimed at a chance to fight for the world championship since his debut. During his three-year career as a pro-boxer, he has won the World Youth Championship and the OPBF title. In the upcoming match he is fighting for the World Championship title at the age of 21, which is the same age as Yokou Gushiken won his first world championship title. Gishiken is an Okinawan boxing legend who won 13 consecutive world championships.

“Gusihken is my role model. I would like to say thank you for all,” Higa stated at the press conference. Gushiken said, “I am sure Higa will flight the match with Okinawa spirit, and I hope Higa will reconstruct Okinawa as a the premier boxing prefecture in Japan.”

The present flyweight world champion is Juan Hernandez, a 30-year-old from Mexico who won the world championship title in Thailand in March. He has a record of 34 wins in 36 matches, including 25 by KO. Higa has been training hard since his last match in February with only three days off, and re-conditioned at his training camp on Miyako Island.